Who’s the boss now, Facebook?

posted at 10:30 am on March 25, 2012 by Jazz Shaw

If this has turned into a trend, I certainly wasn’t aware of it, but then I wouldn’t even have a Facebook account any more if I could figure out how to delete the darn thing. (I simply never got in the habit of using it.) But it seems that at least some employers – and potential employers during the interview process – are asking about getting into the locked accounts of some users of the social network. And while Facebook isn’t exactly known for protecting the privacy of its users, they seem to be up in arms over it.

Facebook follows the news just like you do. And it’s been paying attention to the weird and worrying new trend that employers have asked prospective employees for their Facebook passwords during the hiring process.

Well, that sounds all well and good I suppose. But it also sounds pretty much entirely unenforceable. I mean, what are they going to do? Sue somebody? Oh… wait…

But! It’s not just that sharing or soliciting passwords is now a violation of Facebook’s terms of service. There’s more. “We’ll take action to protect the privacy and security of our users,” Egan notes, “whether by engaging policymakers or, where appropriate, by initiating legal action, including by shutting down applications that abuse their privileges.”

In other words: It looks like Facebook is considering suing the parties who ask for its users’ passwords.

This sounds pretty crazy to me, but I’m no lawyer. (And in this case, I don’t even play one on TV.) Personally, I think this falls back on an old rule of thumb in the internet age. If you need to work for a living or do anything outside of your online life, you simply can’t take anonymity for granted. Don’t put anything out on the web unless you’d be comfortable having your family, your enemies and – yes – even your employer or prospective boss seeing it. Because odds are, sooner or later, they will.

Just going off the grid entirely is looking better and better for some folks these days. Maybe you could look into one of those new post-apocalypse shelters?

Comments

Asking for passwords goes beyond a reasonable assumption of privacy. Knowing your password would allow your prospective employer to look at your private messages, as well as muck around with your account, in theory.

I can completely understand a potential employer asking for your Facebook account name. If nothing else, they could instantly tell whether you can separate your personal and professional life (and all too few can, apparently).

Asking for your password, though? The email analogy is apt, and there’s no real reason for a company to have access to your private information on Facebook. Public should be enough.

I can completely understand a potential employer asking for your Facebook account name. If nothing else, they could instantly tell whether you can separate your personal and professional life (and all too few can, apparently).

Scott H on March 25, 2012 at 10:42 AM

Some contracts are bigger than others, too. The way you present yourself in public, activities that might be prohibited, all sorts of personal things show up when you are important enough or associated tightly enough with the image …

I was thinking along your lines. It seems the idea would be to have access to your “page” — even if it was locked down. Doesn’t that mean being a “friend” or something? The asking for a password might just be sloppy short-cutting to that end.

…I forgot!…the reason I had to open a Facebook account…was that the Detroit Free Press and my local Gannett papers would not let people comment on the opinion or news sections without one. They say the ‘tenor’ of the comments would improve! (:>)
Mine have NOT!

As with our private lives, we should be most protective of our privacy. Fortunately, I don’t have to worry about this nonsense anymore, but there exists an entire generation (and more to come) who have made their personal lives public. A BIG mistake, chilluns!
I’ve only had to pass a local, State, and FBI background checks for decades – as in arrests and convictions. Sadly for the youngins, no longer is that the gold standard.
This is a disturbing trend, but people CAN avoid it.NUMBER ONE: If asked in a job interview what is your Facebook password, simply respond:

“I’m sorry, but my boring, nondescript private life is just that – private. Thank you for your time. Have a nice day.” and then leave.

♫♪ ” … and if you’re in a situation like that there’s only one thing you can do and that’s walk into the shrink wherever you are, just walk in say “Shrink, You can get anything you want, at Alice’s restaurant.”. And walk out. You know, if one person, just one person does it they may think he’s really sick and they won’t take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony, they may think they’re both fäggots and they won’t take either of them.
And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in singin’ a bar of Alice’s Restaurant and walking out. They may think it’s an organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day, I said fifty people a day walking in singin’ a bar of Alice’s Restaurant and walking out. And friends they may thinks it’s a movement.” ♫♪ – Arlo Guthrie

Maybe then employers will get the hint.
I would never violate the privacy of a prospective or current employee.
You wouldn’t open up their personnel file to other employees, would you?

I have a page, what freaked me was all the music I listen to on I heart radio is listed on my page.
I had no clue, I had to turn it off on the options app. It’s to amazing how much information something like Facebook puts out.

Most people have their religion and political affiliation on their private info on FaceBook. It is illegal for an employer to ask a job applicant what their religion or political affiliation is. Asking for your FB password is asking for that information in an indirect way. It is my opinion that it is illegal.

If I had an employer request my FB password I would simply look them in the eye and say: “Is this an IQ test? Most companies are very serious about protecting their computer networks. Are you attempting to see if I protect my own accounts, and if I give you this information, you will not hire me? Do you really want to hire somebody that is that careless about their own computing security? If I were to treat my own computing security this carelessly, what might I do with yours?

I practically live on FB, it’s a great way to keep in touch with my friends around the world. Asking me for my password is the same as asking for my debit card pin or email password. If you want to know my facebook account name though isn’t a problem, go look at all my pleas for shelter/rescue dogs all you want, that’s what I use FB for mostly, trying to help the homeless animals escape the death camps that pass for animal “shelters”.

I’d ask them why they want to stomp all over my privacy rights, then leave if a simple back ground check weren’t enough.. Even my security clearance check with the FBI wasn’t that invasive back in 1980.. of course there was no online anything then.

Some employers are way past inhuman,.. I have experience with a corporations kind of compassion when after a traumatic work injury they had on the security cams.. they still deny it happened, and still fight paying workers comp for the medical care I use, and still deny there’s even a problem.. I do have an attorney, but it’s slow sometimes.

Of course government employers aren’t any better, very probably worse.

…I forgot!…the reason I had to open a Facebook account…was that the Detroit Free Press and my local Gannett papers would not let people comment on the opinion or news sections without one. They say the ‘tenor’ of the comments would improve! (:>)
Mine have NOT!

KOOLAID2 on March 25, 2012 at 11:01 AM

Then just refuse to comment there. Cheezburger site is going through this issue now. I refuse to have a facebook account.

And I’m glad I went through college when the internet was just a few college & military computers.

Why not tap your phone calls to or go through your mail at your house? Maybe your personal letters to and from family and friends? That seems to be the equivalent as we move towards Internet communication. How

I really don’t see how an employer can even prove that you HAVE a Facebook account. Just tell them you don’t do Facebook, and keep your account locked up as much as possible. You can even keep your profile picture private, as well as your location and any other possible identifying information. Unless you have a name that is 100% unique, they cannot prove that the locked account they’re looking at is yours.

It’s a simple fix – if the law does not step in and protect your right to privacy (your Facebook account and email should have the same protections that a snail-mail letter does) – then, you would be smart to set up two Facebook accounts; one for your personal use under an alias, and one for your professional life, that reads like a resume. Make it work for you.

Even then, you should never give over a password, pretty tough to say you won’t “FRIEND” them, though.

Many people I know have two already. One for family and friends in which no politics are discussed, and one where you can weigh in on various news stories and sites.

Even with that, though – this generation needs to be taught how important privacy is – and taught how to protect it. Whether it’s the GPS on their cellphone, their Facebook password, listing their home address in a phone book, giving out your social security number… learn, and take steps to protect yours.

Don’t put anything out on the web unless you’d be comfortable having your family, your enemies and – yes – even your employer or prospective boss seeing it. Because odds are, sooner or later, they will.

Forgot to mention stalkers. That happened to me about fifteen years ago, which is why I’m always just “Apostic” when I’m online. The only thing that ties my nom d’Internet to me in the real world is my lisence plate.

Asking for your password, though? The email analogy is apt, and there’s no real reason for a company to have access to your private information on Facebook. Public should be enough.

Scott H on March 25, 2012 at 10:42 AM

This.

My employer blocks Facebook, as well as most blogs, from work computers. That is their right. They do not have the right to my passwords. I don’t even list my employer on my FB page to keep my life completely separate from my work.

No facebook account here, and so far, nobody has asked for my Google+ password. If the did, I’d be sure to give it to them (and use Google Takeout to export my whole google existence, delete my account, then after I was hired, re-import the whole thing so that its exactly the way it was before)

Never signed up for Facebook. After reading some of the docs in the Winklevoss lawsuit, I was so disgusted by that Zuckerberg punk’s thievery that I was unwilling to do anything that might put more bucks into his pockets.

My company was on strike, we had a page to vent. After it was all over we found out someone let the company ppl see the page. Needless to say some ppl were laid off some were just pushed out the door.
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU POST!

It is perfectly reasonable for an employer to want to know if a prospective employee is so clueless they put damning information online. This would be especially true if in the course of their new job the prospective employee could be learning things about the company the company wants kept secret.

My employer blocks Facebook, as well as most blogs, from work computers. That is their right. They do not have the right to my passwords. I don’t even list my employer on my FB page to keep my life completely separate from my work.

ladyingray on March 25, 2012 at 11:26 AM

Pfft, my employer not blocks EVERYTHING. Only things that get through are pre-approved vendor sites or google. Thing is, google searches won’t click through so you have to send those links to the IT guy who then unlocks them. Sure makes researching software issus, or products we may need much much harder to the point of not bothering to do so.

If a boss demanded my passwords I’d tell them to go straight to you know where.
Imagine being asked something like this during a job interview. It’s insanity. I’d laugh in their faces and get up and leave.
bluegill on March 25, 2012 at 10:37 AM

From my own anecdotal evidence people the use of all social media has dropped a lot.
With my Facebook “Friends” and business “Like” page I would say posting & comments is down 90%. Twitter posting, clicking on links, ReTweeting down 70+%.

I guess I look at it this way. They can look up and get your credit rating and such…this is no shock to me either that they want to get into your social media. I dont like it, but really, this is the day and age we live in.

BTW, some time ago I applied at walmart. Guess what? I got turned down for a job because my CREDIT SCORE was not good enough! This of course was while I was fixing it, but that did not matter. The guy who informed me of it, was nice and went into detail on why. He said a poor credit score not only shows how careless a person is on paying bill on time or even at all, and also said it has been shown that people with low credit scores are more likely to commit theft.

On Facebook “Friends” the only one’s left who are posting regularly are the same people screaming out in search of crowd to say, “Look at me, I am important, yes, I really am, read about my normal life, look at my photos, I am important!”.

I have a niece (married, 2 kids)who spent a week on Facebook documenting how she fell off her bicycle and scratched her elbow. She tried to make it sound like it was the equivalent of climbing Mt. Everest after losing both legs or battling & winning on the beaches of Normandy during D-Day with 15 body wounds…“Look at me! I am important!”

And those that have post after post of witty, clever sayings that they just copied and pasted, but are trying to imply that they are witty and clever, too…arggghhhh!

Go ahead and try. I have. They will not delete your information from the system. I told them to delete my account and all personal information. My account seemed to have been deleted, and I got a note from Facebook saying that all my data had been erased.

As a test, I tried logging in a week later. I saw all of my personal data and page information had been restored – with a “Welcome Back” message from Facebook, saying they were happy to see me again, and had stored all my data as a courtesy.

If your employer, or prospective employer, asks for the passwords to your Twitter, Facebook or similar accounts, tell them to request it from you in writing on company letterhead, and you will be delighted to respond — appropriately — in writing.

What you deem is an appropriate response, assuming they actually don’t back off and drop the matter, is up to you.

Facebook pages, like Photobucket and Tinypic accounts are easy to hack (just Google the name “Angie Varona” to see what I mean). Nothing Facebook can do about it. Even semi-skilled hackers who understand the concept of dynamic IP can do it.

If you have a wireless router, and you do not have it password protected (with a good password, not your name or “123456”) you are asking for trouble.

The guy who informed me of it, was nice and went into detail on why. He said a poor credit score not only shows how careless a person is on paying bill on time or even at all, and also said it has been shown that people with low credit scores are more likely to commit theft.

This was walmart.

watertown on March 25, 2012 at 11:57 AM

What he told you is absolutely true. I am a landlord with a great deal of direct experience over several decades. Of the measures landlords are allowed by law to use, the credit score is the best single, discrete predictor by far of whether or not a person who is polite during the application process will stay that way after becoming a renter, respecting the rights and sensibilities of both management and other tenants.

People with lousy credit scores are far more likely to act like self-centered animals once they’ve got the keys. That does not mean all people with lousy credit scores behave rottenly, just that your odds become worse the lower their credit score is.

Watch for the pro-animal political party (Democrats) to push through laws banning the use of credit scores because of their ‘disparate impact.’

I know when a friend was let go as part of her severance package she could not unfriend her old company? She is in the service industry. I know some company’s will require that you friend them so they can keep track of what you say. I know my wife’s boss checks all the employees Facebook accounts.

I joined FB about a year or so ago so I could converse with some of the HotGas crowd in private. It took about a week before some random ahole had hacked my account and was saying some seriously nasty shiz to me and about my kids. I couldn’t block them out so I “canceled” the entire thing and just left.

Been out of job search mode for a long time. When I last changed jobs, Facebook was being developed at Harvard.

At the moment, there are many other things that employers may not ask candidates. As employment law continues to evolve, asking for passwords for a candidate’s email or social media accounts ought to be added to the list of illegal questions.

As far as who would have standing to sue, it should be the account holder, NOT Facebook or whatever the tool is.

If my boss knew my FB password, they could, in theory, manufacture whatever evidence they needed to harm me, and read my private messages. Which by definition are not public. If you have to know my FB password to see it, it isn’t public.

Exactly, my concern. Truthfully, I was very nervous about even signing up here to comment. Having been an avid reading since its inception, it wasn’t until the first of the last two open reg’s that I finally threw caution to the wind and came on board. The only reason I did it was to pitch in with helping to make this place even better then it was. The place has always had a good atmosphere, of honest debate and camaraderie, until sadly of course the last two open regs. The dreaded catch 22. So here I am all paranoid and such, but up for getting the place back on track, one comment and one commenter at a time. HA is the only place on the web I have anything to do with. That will remain the case, well until they kick me out. ; )

I couldn’t block them out so I “canceled” the entire thing and just left.

Bishop on March 25, 2012 at 12:27 PM

Bishop, do yourself a favor and make sure your account has been deleted. Deactivation doesn’t get rid of it. They make you jump through some hoops to actually cancel it. Extra hoops if you want it completely cleaned and removed.

Facebook is WAY over-rated, and I never got the appeal of it. I do have an account, though, and if my employer or a prospective employer asked me for my password I’d tell them to shove it.

SouthernGent on March 25, 2012 at 12:40 PM

It’s a quick and easy way to catch up with people from your past without actually having to talk to them. Old friends from high school and college or old jobs, old girlfriends, extended family members you barely know.

That’s it. That’s really the whole point. Most people use it to see if their old flames are still good looking.

Facebook is WAY over-rated, and I never got the appeal of it. I do have an account, though, and if my employer or a prospective employer asked me for my password I’d tell them to shove it.

SouthernGent on March 25, 2012 at 12:40 PM

If I was an employer considering hiring a new employee, I might ask them for the password to the facebook page just to see their reaction.

If they said, “Shove it!” I would quite sensibly show them the door. If they politely responded either way, that would be a plus. If they gave me the password, I would destroy it as soon as they left the room.

I don’t quite understand why facebook is so up in arms over employers asking for passwords, or why employers are actually asking for those passwords. Has nobody heard of Firesheep? If I wanted to check a prospective employee’s social behavior, I wouldn’t ask for their password and alert them about it.

Jazz Shaw: Just going off the grid entirely is looking better and better for some folks these days. Maybe you could look into one of those new post-apocalypse shelters?

It’s odd that someone who admits very little knowledge on a topic feels no restraint with opining on it.

The problem with giving another person your password is that you also then give them access to all your friends and family. It’s one thing for one to take care of what they say and do online but who can control a family member who might decide to bring up an unfortunate incident in the past or make reference to a medical problem one had?

You, sir, are living in a bubble and bubble people, by definition, know only the confines of what exists within that space. So, does one choose to become a bubble person or do they choose to stay connected to their ever-expanding family and friends, warts and all? Most rather like being wart people and for that alone their privacy should be safeguarded.

It’s odd that someone who admits very little knowledge on a topic feels no restraint with opining on it.

The problem with giving another person your password is that you also then give them access to all your friends and family. It’s one thing for one to take care of what they say and do online but who can control a family member who might decide to bring up an unfortunate incident in the past or make reference to a medical problem one had?

You, sir, are living in a bubble and bubble people, by definition, know only the confines of what exists within that space. So, does one choose to become a bubble person or do they choose to stay connected to their ever-expanding family and friends, warts and all? Most rather like being wart people and for that alone their privacy should be safeguarded.